Samyang AF 35/2.8 FE: Samples [2] - FF - f/2.8

Camera: Sony a7c (FF, 24MP)

Lens: Samyang AF 35/2.8 FE at f/2.8; The profiled lens (distortion/vignetting) correction is disabled.

See also related notes:

• Samyang AF 35/2.8 FE: My first AF lens for Sony (2023-09-08)

Image albums:

• Samyang AF 35/2.8 FE

Koozer T38 hub caps (RockShox torque caps)

RockShox forks have been compatible with torque caps since 2017 (?). At least, the RockShox Recon RL on my Cujo 1 (2018) is compatible.

This expands the contact area between the "torque caps" hub and the fork.

The stock front wheel of Cujo 1 (2018) already has the "torque caps" hub.

However, the front 29" Koozer wheel that I bought has the standard (Koozer T10) hub caps for a 15mm axle.

It is not needed, but you can replace the T10 caps with the T38 caps.

The T38 caps are compatible with the RockShox torque caps. I replaced the caps on the front wheel hub. Hopefully, this will increase stiffness and make wheel installation easier.

See also related notes:

• Koozer XM1850 (622x27) wheelset (2024-06-29)
• Мой новый велосипед: Cannondale Cujo 1 (2018) (2018-10-06)

Image albums:

• Bicycle

New city Angarsk (1953)

Newsreel (in Russian): Eastern Siberia, #35, September 1953. New City Angarsk. Angarsk was granted city status in 1951.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ah5WhJxelw

Unfortunately, there are few old documentary films about Angarsk. This one is very rare. While I appreciate the attempt to digitize it, a video processing is evident. I wish the film were closer to the source media.

(Image distortion caused by video frame interpolation)

This documentary film features quite beautiful imagery and straightforward Soviet propaganda.

Note that 1953 was the year of Stalin's death. And there is no mention of Stalin by the announcer. When the "Победа" (Pobeda/Victory) cinema theater is shown, the statue of Lenin is in the foreground while the statue of Stalin is on the edge of the frame and barely visible. However, the four-person picture (Marx - Engels - Lenin - Stalin) remains on the building.

Image albums:

• Angarsk

Cannondale Cujo 1: Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6 mounted

And I already mounted Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6 tires on my Cannondale Cujo 1.

Since I only have one 29" wheelset, I used them. The rims' inner width is 27 mm. This is less than the recommended 30c/i30 rims, however, the difference is negligible.

Also, I have no 29+ inner tubes, so I used 29x1.9/2.3 ones.

The tire carcass width is about 60.3 mm at 2.4 bar pressure (whereas 65 mm is expected).

Nevertheless, the 29x2.6 tires have a noticeably larger diameter than the 27.5x3.0 tires have.

This is a radius (sic!) comparison. The 29x2.6 tire is on the i27 wheel and the 27.5x3.0 tire is on the i35 wheel. Both wheels are on the single axle.

Fortunately, the ready wheels fit Cujo1 well. There is enough space between the wheels and the frame for snow driving.

The fork (RockShox Recon RL 29" Boost 120mm):

The seat tube:

The seat stays:

The chain stay:

First impressions are good. This tire is quite good for driving in the snow.

See also related notes:

• Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6 (2025-12-19)
• Koozer XM1850 (622x27) wheelset (2024-06-29)
• Kenda 29x1.9/2.3 Super Lite tubes (2024-06-05)
• WTB Ranger TCS Fast Rolling Light 27.5x3.0: велосипедные покрышки (2021-06-26)
• Мой новый велосипед: Cannondale Cujo 1 (2018) (2018-10-06)

Image albums:

• Bicycle

Auto-Takumar 105/2.8: Samples [2] - FF - f/2.8

Camera: Sony a7c (FF, 24MP)

Lens: Auto-Takumar 105/2.8 at f/2.8

See also related notes:

• Auto-Takumar 105/2.8 (M42x1): 4/4 generation (2024-04-02)

Image albums:

• Auto-Takumar 105/2.8

Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6

Even when used only on the front wheel, the 27.5x3.0 tire performed well in the snow. After that, I decided to try wide 29" tires on both the front and back.

The best options would be 29x3.0 or 29x2.8 tires. However, this 29+ standard is almost obsolete, as few tires are available in this size. I am also unsure if there is enough space to mount such large wheels on the Cujo 1.

Therefore, I chose 29x2.6 tires.

These are Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6 tires. I was confused by with the "e"-name, but these are actually rebadged Barzo tires for standard mountain bikes.

The ETRTO size is 65-622. The tires are foldable, of course. 120TPI. The maximum pressure is 2.5 bar or 35 psi. The recommended rim size is 30c/i30.

The weight (without packaging): 831g and 815g.

I selected these tires because of their 120 TPI (a high level), 35 psi (lower is better), and notably lighter weight (less than 1 kg).

See also related notes:

• Cannondale Cujo 1: Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6 mounted (2025-12-23)

Image albums:

• Bicycle

Pentax Q7: Angle of view with 03, 04, 05 lenses

The Pentax Q7 has a larger 1/1.7" sensor (4.6x crop factor, 12MP) than the Pentax Q and Q10 models (1/2.3", 5.6x crop factor, 12MP). This means that the same lenses provide a wider angle of view with the Q7 (and the Q-S1).

Pentax Q-mount lens lineup:

(source pdf)

Note, that the equivalent focal length is shorter for the Q7, but there is some deviation with the 03, 04, and 05 lenses. Their equivalent focal lengths are larger than expected for a 4.6x crop factor.

I tested the Pentax Q7 with my lenses and discovered the reason.

With the 03, 04, and 05 lenses the Pentax Q7 in JPEG crops the image to ~9.9MP and upscales it to 12MP. This makes the angle of view narrower. In DNG, the full 12MP image is stored, but the metadata contains crop information (like the Ricoh GR).

Default Crop Origin             : 185 139

Default Crop Size               : 3629 2722

Therefore, the actual angle of view depends on the RAW converter used.

The ART RAW converter ignores the crop information, and works with the full image. If your RAW converter doesn't offer this flexibility, you can use ExifTool to remove the crop information.

Here are my tests.

Pentax Q 03 3.2/5.6 Fish-eye

Pentax Q:

Pentax Q7 (JPEG):

Pentax Q7 (DNG without cropping):

Pentax Q 04 6.3/7.1 Toy Lens Wide

Pentax Q:

Pentax Q7 (JPEG):

Pentax Q7 (DNG without cropping):

Pentax Q 05 18/8 Toy Lens Telephoto

Pentax Q:

Pentax Q7 (JPEG):

Pentax Q7 (DNG without cropping):

As you can see, the angle of view in Q7's JPEG of the 03, 04, and 05 lenses is wider than with the Pentax Q, but narrower than the full image without cropping.

See also related notes:

• Pentax Q7: Better, but still too specific (2025-11-13)
• My Pentax Q lenses (2025-10-13)
• Pentax Q 05 18/8 Toy Lens Telephoto (2025-07-05)
• Pentax Q 04 6.3/7.1 Toy Lens Wide (2025-06-13)
• Pentax Q 03 3.2/5.6 Fish-eye (2025-05-23)
• Pentax Q: Useless mirrorless camera (2025-02-14)
• RawTherapee (2022) и ART (2022-03-30)
• Ricoh GR и "кроп" в DNG-файле (2014-04-02)

Image albums:

• Pentax Q (series)
• Pentax Q 03 3.2/5.6 Fish-eye
• Pentax Q 04 6.3/7.1 Toy Lens Wide
• Pentax Q 05 18/8 Toy Lens Telephoto

Cannondale Cujo 1: 27.5x3.0 and 29x2.1

This is the setup of my Cannondale Cujo 1, that I started using this winter.

Front wheel: WTB Ranger 27.5x3.0 on an i35 rim.

Rear wheel: Kenda Small Block Eight 29x2.1 on an i27 rim.

Since the summer of 2024, I have used 29x2.1 tires, but this winter, I wanted to switch back to 27.5+ (27.5x3.0) tires. Unfortunately, the rear 27.5" rim is broken, so I only changed the front 27.5+ wheel, and kept the 29" rear wheel.

The diameters of the 27.5x3.0 and 29x2.1 wheels are almost the same, with the 29x2.1 wheel being very slightly larger.

I have already noticed an improvement when driving in the snow. 

See also related notes:

• Vittoria e-Barzo Trail 29x2.6 (2025-12-19)

Image albums:

• Bicycle

Pentax M 135/3.5: Samples [3] - FF - f/3.5

Camera: Sony a7c (FF, 24MP)

Lens: Pentax M 135/3.5 at f/3.5

In my opinion, the Pentax M 135/3.5 is a nice, compact, inexpensive lens from the film era.

See also related notes:

• Объективы 135мм: Юпитер, Таир и Pentax (2022-04-15)

Image albums:

• Pentax M 135/3.5